


Protecting You (Is So Hard To Do)

by superhusbands4ever (Potterwatch97)



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: BUT LIKE FOR REAL, Cute, Director of SHIELD Peggy, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Kid Tony Stark, Light Angst, Nick Fury cares about Tony Stark, Nick Fury has a heart, good parent decisions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-03 22:17:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14006001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Potterwatch97/pseuds/superhusbands4ever
Summary: “I’m just an old man who cares very much about you.”Howard Stark and Peggy Carter-Sousa have worked for SHIELD since the beginning. So why did Tony not know his father was a founder of SHIELD? Why had Tony never heard of it? And what did Fury mean when he said heknewTony’s dad really did care about him?The story of why.





	Protecting You (Is So Hard To Do)

**Author's Note:**

> So this is based on a conversation on the Tony Stark Defense Sqaud discord I lurked on about Fury knowing Tony as a kid but then being forced by Howard to stay out of contact after something bad happened. I will argue that Fury cares about Tony until the day I die.

“Howard, think about what you’re doing-”

“I am thinking about it, that’s why I’m doing it,” Howard’s voice rang out across the room.

“You can’t just hide this from him,” Peggy yelled back, hands clenching in frustration.

“Like hell I can’t!”

“You helped found SHIELD,” Peggy said, watching tensely as Howard ran around his office, packing up his things, “SHIELD is just as much his legacy as Stark Industries is, and-”

“No, no, see, that-” Howard stuttered, pausing his frantic movements to look over at Peggy. “It is bad enough that SI’s enemies are after him because of me. When he was taken the day he was born, I thought I-”

He cut himself off and let out a shaky breath. Peggy could see the tension in his jaw and he looked down at his fists, clenched on the table.

“He had not even been in this world two hours before they took him,” Howard said quietly, “that day was the longest twelve hours of my life.”

Peggy sighed as she thought back to May 29th, 1970. Everyone had been overjoyed the day little Tony was born. Her little Ducky. But that joy had quickly been shattered when a frantic nurse had rushed into the room to tell them the baby was gone. Someone, some lunatic, had disguised themselves as a nurse and taken Tony. It had been a disgruntled former Stark Industries employee who had been fired a couple months previously and was hoping to use Tony to bargain out a little cash. They hadn’t made it very far before Peggy and Jarvis had caught up to them, but it had still taken the entire night to find them. Tony was fine of course, if not a little shaken, but the man hadn’t harmed him and Tony would never remember it.

It had all been over within 24 hours and Tony was returned safe and sound by the end of it, but the damage had been done. It had been a wake up call to Howard, a reminder that because of who he was and the life he lived, his family and his son would never be completely safe.

Tony would never live a normal life.

“He’d been alive for 24 hours and even then I couldn’t protect him,” Howard whispered.

Peggy felt her heart clench. “Howard-”

“I’ve learned to live with that,” Howard said, his voice louder now as he resumed packing his office. “Maybe I can’t protect him from Stark Industries legacy, okay. Fine. But I’ll be damned if I allow SHIELD’s enemies to get to him too.”

“Howard, he’s going to find out eventually,” Peggy said, resigned, trying to reason with him one more time.

“Maybe so,” Howard said, putting the last of his things into boxes, “but so long as I’m alive, Tony Stark will have nothing to do with SHIELD. Got it?”

“You can’t just disappear from SHIELD, Howard. You’re one of the council.”

“I’m not going to quit cold turkey on you,” he said, coming around the desk to face Peggy. “I’ll still provide you the upgrades and weapons tech you need. I’ll just work from home.”

“You’re going to be living in that workshop, Howard, working on both SI and SHIELD in there.”

“I’ll do what I need to do,” Howard said, “yes, maybe I’ll have to work more hours, spend less time with the family, but if it means keeping them safe? Then so be it. Besides, I have Jarvis.”

“You can’t rely on Edwin to raise your child for you,” Peggy chided, smiling.

“But he’s so good at it,” Howard smirked, “better than me at any rate. Where is Tony?”

“He’s outside with Nick.”

“Nick,” Howard scoffed, “great, just what I want to hear. Leave my son with the man who let him get taken-”

“That’s not what happened, and you know it,” Peggy said softly. “It’s not his fault. Besides, he’s already beating himself up enough over it.”

“Whatever,” Howard grumbled, “let’s go.”

They found Tony where they left him, sitting in Nick’s lap at Peggy’s desk, drawing on some paper with a pen. His mouth was moving a mile a minute, yammering on about who even knew what. His brain seemed to be moving a little too fast for his limited, three year old vocabulary, impressive though it was for his age, so half of what he said sounded like gibberish to the other adults. Nick, however, seemed to be listening carefully and nodding and making noises in all the right places, so Tony was satisfied.

“Tony,” Howard said sharply, still a little tense after the last couple of days. “Come on. Time to go.”

Nick looked up at the sound of Howard’s voice and had the decency to look a little embarrassed. Howard would too, he supposed, if he had allowed someone to sneak up on him and kidnap his boss’s son and godson. Howard figured he should probably be a little kinder to the man as he was one of the ones to go in and rescue Tony, as evidenced by the black eye, split lip, and casted hand. Still, maybe if he’d been paying better attention this whole mess could have been avoided in the first place.

Tony nodded and slid out of Nick’s lap, running over to his father’s side.

“Hi, Aunt Peggy,” Tony giggled up at her.  
Peggy quickly knelt down and brushed the curls out of Tony’s eyes, cupping his cheek. Tony smiled and leaned into the touch.

“Hello, Ducky,” Peggy said, smiling.

“Were you a good boy for Nick?”

“Yeah,” Tony said quietly, looking bashful.

“Good boy,” Peggy said, pulling the boy in for a hug. He went willingly.

“I’ll see you on Friday when me and Uncle Daniel come over for dinner, alright darling?”

“Okay,” Tony said, kissing her cheek before he stepped back. He stared up at her and Howard for a moment before his eyes widened and he turned back to Nick.

“Wait!” Tony yelled suddenly, turning and rushing back to Nick’s side before Howard could stop him. He pulled on Nick’s uniform pants until Nick was kneeling down beside him.

“I drewed you a pit’ur,” Tony said, holding up the piece of paper he’s been drawing on. On it Howard could make out a bigger blob standing next to a smaller blob which he assumed was supposed to be Nick and Tony.

“To say fank you, for savin’ me!” Tony smiled and pushed the paper into Nick’s hands.

“Thanks, kid,” Nick said, grinning at the boy in front of him. “I appreciate it. You were very brave today, you know that?”

“Brave like you, an’ Daddy, an’ Jarvis, an’ Aunt Peggy?”

“Just like all of em, squirt,” Nick said with a smile. “Remember what I told you okay?

“Never let ‘em know you’re ‘fraid!” Tony recited back dutifully.

“That’s right. Remember that, got it?”

Tony nodded with a smile.

“You better get going. I’ll see you around, alright?”

Tony surprised both Howard and Nick by jumped forward to wrap his arms around Nick’s neck and give him a squeeze.

“Bye, Mr. Furry.”

Nick snorted at the mispronunciation of his name.

“Bye, kid.”

Tony let go of Nick with a smile before running back over to Howard and grabbing his hand. Howard down at him before looking back to Peggy.

“Any business I do with SHIELD from now on will be conducted through you or Pierce, got it? Not one else,” Howard said quietly. He glanced over at Nick, eyes hard.

“Not even you.”

Nick bit down on his tongue and nodded.

“Yes, sir.”

Howard nodded at him and Peggy once more before turning and marching from the room, dragging Tony behind him.

The two stood quietly in the for a moment before Peggy jolted herself out of her thoughts. She turned back to Nick and tried to look sympathetic. She was pretty sure it just came off as a grimace.

“Don’t take it too personally, Nick,” Peggy said quietly, “I think the last couple of days just really got to him.”

Nick nodded, but didn’t say anything. He glanced down at his feet for a moment before straightening and looking her in the eye.

“Will that be all, Director Sousa?”

“No,” Peggy said softly, looking sadly at the rundown man in front of her. “That will be all, Agent Fury. You are dismissed.”

~

“Director Fury?”

Nick looked up from the spot he’d been staring at on his desk. Maria Hill was standing in the doorway, looking just as tired as the rest of them.

“Yes, Agent Hill?”

“I just wanted to report that Agent Romanoff called in, and Loki, Thor, and the Tesseract have all been successfully transported back to Asgard. Banner accompanied Stark back to his tower, Rogers took off for his apartment in Brooklyn, and Romanoff and Barton will be back in their barracks by nightfall.”

Nick nodded, feeling a weight lift from his chest at the knowledge that Loki and the Tesseract were gone and dealt with.

“Thank you, Maria. Why don’t you go ahead and take the night off,” Nick said quietly, running a hand over his forehead. “Lord knows we could all use a break.”

“Thank you, sir,” Maria said, looking concerned. “Are you going to be alright?”

“I’ll be fine,” Nick reassured her, “I’m just going to finish up some paperwork and head out myself.”

“Alright. Well, goodnight, sir. Make sure you get some rest,” Maria said kindly. “You deserve it.”

“Thank you. Goodnight.”

Nick continued to stare at his desk in contemplation for a few minutes after Maria closed the door. Eventually, he shook himself from his thoughts and turned to the cabinet behind him. He pulled out a bottle of whiskey and a glass, pouring himself a quick shot before setting it on his desk.

He turned to dig around in one of the drawers in his desk. He pressed a button, and the false bottom opened. He reached in and pulled out an old, wrinkled piece of paper covered in scribbled lines of pen, with two scribbled blobs, one large and one small.

He stared at that paper for a long time, trying to configure the small, doe-eyed, curly haired kid with the man who had nearly given his life to save the planet yesterday.

“You’re killing me, kid,” Fury said, downing his shot. “You’re killing me.”

**Author's Note:**

> I might write a companion piece about the actual kidnapping and Fury rescuing him, but we shall see :)


End file.
